Key-locked fastenings for travel bags, boxes and the like



March 20, 1962 c. w. B. CHENEY 3,025,692

KEY-LOCKED FASTENINGS FOR TRAVEL BAGS, BOXES AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 22, 1959 By W H45 KEG/T United States atent 3,625,692 KEY-LOCKED FASTENINGS FDRTRAVEL BAGS, BOXES AND THE LIKE Charles William Blake Cheney, deceased, late of Olton, England, by Francis Martin Tomkinson, Birmingham, Howard William Cheney, Shipton-on-Stour, and Gordon Merrick Sherwood, Birmingham, England, executors, assignors to C. W. Cheney & Son Limited, Birmingham, England, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Sept. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 841,569 3 Claims. (Cl. 70--67) This invention relates to key locked fastenings for travel bags, boxes and the like, of the so-called visible catch type, comprising a spring loaded hasp having a stud-hole therein and a lock member comprising a front plate and a back plate secured together and housing a key operated locking mechanism, the lock member including a correspondingly shaped stud projecting from the front plate, and two spring loaded catches projecting through side openings in said stud are arranged to snap engage over the hasp and hold it fastened to the lock member, each catch being independently movable in opposite directions for release of the hasp by means of a manually operable releasing member extending through opposite sides of said front plate.

According to prior British Patent No. 176,669, the looking mechanism comprises a spring loaded bolt which is guided for rectilinear movement on the back plate on two pegs which engage parallel slots in the bolt; in the locking position the bolt slides upwardly when its head is shot be tween the extremities of said catches and, consequently, the head blocks the movement of the catches into positions of release. The main problems with this construction lies first in the high tooling and assembly costs, and, secondly, that due to the sliding movement of the bolt, the locking and unlocking positions of the latter cannot be accurately determined and consequently such locks were unreliable. These problems which are vitally important in mass production and marketing, are liable to hamper home and export trade and the primary object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive solution to the problems by providing a locking bolt which can be key operated with precision into the locking and unlocking positions.

According to the present invention in a fastening of the type referred to, the key operated locking bolt comprises a spring-loaded lever which is pivotally mounted on the inner side of the back plate, the upper part of the lever having spaced abutments which in the locking position of the bolt co-operate with the inner extremities of the catches and serve to block the movement thereof into the position of release.

Preferably, the lever is designed as a quadrant simply to rock about its pivotal axis, which may be a rivet on the I back plate or pivot pierced and plunged on said plate.

According to one form of construction of the invention, one side of the quadrant bolt has a hole which engages the pivot, and the head or upper part of the bolt has two generally upright stumps for blocking said catches. A lower part of the bolt has a cam slot to be engaged by the bit of a key for rocking the quadrant bolt about its pivot into the locking and unlocking positions.

The movement of the quadrant into the locking and unlocking positions takes place against the action of a U-shaped spring of which one limb abuts against a flange of the back plate and the other has a nose in engagement with the adjoining edge of the quadrant, a peg or the like on the backplate serving to hold the spring against displacement.

In order that the invention may be thoroughly understood a preferred form of construction of a key looked fastening according to the invention, is illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the fasteningillustrating the hasp in fastening engagement with the lock member.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the lock member, the front plate having been removed for convenience in illustrating the locked position of the fastening.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating the unlocked position of the fastening,

FIG. 4 is a section of FIG. 1 taken on the dotted line 44.

Referring to FIG. 1 a key locked fastening comprises an attachment plate 5 to be secured to the lid 6 of a box or the like, and having a spring loaded hasp 7 with a stud hole 9, hinged to the attachment plate 5. A lock member comprises a front plate 10 having a boundary flange 11 and a backplate 12 fitted within the flange 11 and secured together, said plates housing a key operated locking mechanism 13, a key being inserted through a key hole 14 in the front plate It A stud 15 corresponding to the shape of the stud hole 9 and projecting from the front face of the plate 10, has opposite side openings 16 therein through which project spring loaded catches 17. The back of the stud 15 is hollow and its edge has three prongs which are clinched to the back of the front plate 10. These catches 17 are independently movable in opposite directions, and each has a manually operable releasing member terminating in finger tips 19 which project through gaps 20 in the opposite sides of the front plate 10.

The catches 17 are loaded by a U-shaped spring 21 mounted on a peg 22 secured to the inner side of the backplate 12, the limbs of the spring 21 urging each catch 17 in an outward direction whereby in the fastened position (FIG. 1) the catches 17 lie over the hasp 7 and fasten it to the lock member. For releasing the hasp the finger grips 19 are pressed inwardly, retracting the catches 17 in opposite directions and permitting the hasp 7 to fly off.

The front plate 10 and the backplate 12 houses a locking member 13a constructed as a spring loaded lever or quadrant which is pivotally mounted at 23 on the inner side of the backplate 12. The upper part of the quadrant lever 13a has spaced, upwardly projecting stumps 2 4, the spacing being so designed that in the locking position of the quadrant bolt 13a, the upward movement thereof will cause bevelled edges of the stumps 24 to be shot into engagement between stops 25 at the inner ends of the catch members 18 and serve to block the movement of the catches 17 towards one another, thereby locking the hasp 7 in its fastened position. The release of the key operated locking quadrant 13a, as illustrated in FIG. 3, is effected by its pivoted movement in the reverse direction as indicated by the arrow. For this purpose, the lower part of the quadrant lever 13 is formed with an opening having a cam form 26 to be engaged by a key bit 27.

As is more particularly seen at FIGS. 2 and 3 the quadrant bolt 13a is biased in its locking and unlocking positions by a spring 27 mounted on a peg 28 on the backplate 12, one limb of the spring abutting against a flange 29 and the other having a nose 30 which engages an adjoining edge of the quadrant bolt 13a. In the locking position the nose 30 snap engages a curved edge 31, whereas in the unlocked position the nose 30' has snap engaged over an angular edge 32 in which position the base 33 of the quadrant bolt 13a engages face to face a flange 34 of the backplate thereby assisting in preventing inadvertent displacement of the said bolt.

It will be appreciated that the quadrant bolt 13a has but few working parts and can be assembled easily and quickly to the lock casing without skill.

What is claimed is:

1. A key locked fastening for travel bags comprising a spring loaded hasp having a stud hole therein, a locking member comprising a front plate, having a keyhole therein, and a back plate secured together, said front plate having a boundary flange provided with gaps in opposite sides of said flange, a stud, having an exterior shape corresponding to the shape of said stud hole, fastened to and projecting from the outer surface of said front plate, said stud having opposite side openings therein, a pair of aligned spring loaded catches slidably arranged between said front plate and said back plate, the outer ends of said catches projecting through said gaps for manual operation, and the inner ends projecting through said side openings in said stud so as to form overhanging catches which extend one on each side of said stud for snap engagement over said hasp, and a key operated locking mechanism housed between said front and back plates and comprising a key operated leverbolt pivotally mounted on the inner side of said back plate and having an opening therein which is shaped for cooperation with a key-bit, a spring biasing said bolt into its locking and unlocking positions, the upper part of said bolt including upwardly projecting, longitudinally spaced stumps the spacing between said stumps being so selected [2. that upon turning said bolt-lever into the locking position the outer parts of said stumps engage between the adjoining inner ends of said catch members and lock said catches against inward movement.

2. A fastening according'to claim 1 wherein the opening in the lever-bolt has a cam form.

3. A fastening according to claim 1 wherein the leverbolt is provided with a curved edge and said spring is U-shaped having a nose on one limb which co-operates with said curved edge in the locking position, and in the unlocked position another edge of the lever bolt has a face to face engagement with a flange on the back plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,599,372 Cheney June 3, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 268,462 Great Britain Apr. 7, 1927 463,145 Italy Apr. 16, 1951 

